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The area where the victim’s body was found.*Rape and robbery are among the motives being eyed by investigators in the brutal killing of a 38-year-old mother of two in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, on Thursday afternoon, May 21.The victim identified as alias "Jen" was found dead in a vacant lot in Sitio Capayas, Barangay Sicaba, at around 4:30 p.m. by her husband, approximately 300 meters away from their residence.The Cadiz City police said the victim sustained bruises and an eye injury believed to have been caused by a blunt impact from a coconut. She was also found without her undergarments.Police noted indications of a struggle, as the strap of her sling bag was found tightly wrapped around her neck.Authorities recovered a coconut, a black sling bag, and a pair of sl...

Bacolod Mayor Greg Gasaraya.*Mayor Greg Gasataya said on Friday, May 22, that he strongly condemns any statement, act, or public expression that normalizes, justifies, or makes light of rape and violence against women.Jean Paul C. Generoso, anchorman and Vice President for Administration and Human Resources at K5 News FM Bacolod, has faced widespread backlash after telling a female reporter on-air that he would rape her so he could "go to jail" alongside a father who had recently beaten his child at the Bacolod Public Plaza.“The recent broadcast treating sexual assault as a matter of humor is a failure of empathy and a betrayal of civic trust. The trauma of sexual violence must never be reduced to a punchline,” Gasataya said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.“De...

Police crime scene operatives carry the cadaver of one of the dead in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 20.*Cheng Santillan photoContrary to claims that 19 alleged New People's Army (NPA) members were massacred during the April 19 clash in Toboso, Negros Occidental, a ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said the communist insurgents were given every opportunity to surrender, but they refused."Government forces continuously called on members of the armed group to surrender because no one wanted these encounters to happen," NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said on Friday, May 22."Tragically, opportunities for peace were repeatedly ignored and rejected even during the lull in co...

A 70-year-old motorcycle driver died after his motorcycle collided with a car in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, on Thursday night, May 21.Police identified the fatality as alias “Jul,” a resident of Brgy. 2, San Carlos City.The accident happened at around 9:20 p.m. along the C.L. Ledesma National Highway in Sitio Santo Niño, Brgy. Buluangan.San Carlos police investigation showed that a black Toyota Vios driven by alias “Jean,” 36, a barangay kagawad of Brgy. Buluangan, was traveling toward the San Carlos police station when it hit the motorcycle.Police said the motorcycle was traveling in the opposite direction allegedly without a headlight and had encroached on the lane of the Toyota Vios.The motorcycle overturned and was totally wrecked due to the impact.The ...

The Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO) logged the largest power rate reduction in Negros Occidental for the month of May, posting a significant decrease of ₱2.3868 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).NONECO announced that its overall electricity rate for May dropped to ₱12.0159/kWh, a decline from the ₱14.4027/kWh recorded in April.The Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power) in central Negros and Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) in southern Negros also earlier announced drops in their power rates for May.Negros Power reduced its May rate to ₱11.38/kWh, marking a decrease of ₱0.86 from April's rate of ₱12.24/kWh.NOCECO announced that its residential rate for May fell to ₱11.45/kWh, which is down by ₱1.76 from the ₱13.21/kWh billed in April.Despit...

A high-value drug target was arrested in a buy-bust operation that yielded P428,400 worth of suspected shabu in Murcia, Negros Occidental, on Wednesday afternoon, May 20.Authorities identified the suspect as alias “Nonong,” 50, a resident of Brgy. 2, Bacolod City.The operation was conducted at around 5:20 p.m. in Purok Old Bario, Brgy. Sta. Rosa, Murcia.The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Regional Office-Negros Island Region said the operation was led by its Regional Special Enforcement Team, together with PDEA intelligence units, Murcia Municipal Police Station, and the Coast Guard Intelligence Unit-Northern Negros Occidental.Recovered from the suspect were 15 heat-sealed plastic sachets containing about 63 grams of suspected shabu.Authorities also seized the buy-bu...

The slaughterhouse in Brgy. Rizal, San Carlos City.*Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson led the blessing and inauguration of another abattoir/slaughterhouse project located at the City Agriculture Compound in Brgy. Rizal, San Carlos City, on Friday, May 22.It is one of the many abattoirs strategically located in various LGUs in the province, aimed at ensuring safe, hygienic, and regulated meat processing for public consumption, thereby protecting public health through proper sanitation and inspection, a press release from the provincial government said.The slaughterhouse will also boost the local livestock industry and economy, and help manage waste responsibly, it added.The project is one of the Department of Agriculture-led Philippine Rural Development Project...

The MOA signining at CHMSU on Friday*Carlos Hilado Memorial State University (CHMSU) made regional history as the first institution in the Negros Island Region to establish a Center for Human Rights Education (CHRE), following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) at the CHMSU Talisay Main Campus Function Hall on Friday. May 22.The landmark MOA was signed between CHR Chairperson Richard Palpal-Latoc, represented during the ceremony by Commissioner Beda Epres, and CHMSU Vice President for Academic Affairs Russel Dela Torre on behalf of President Norberto Mangulabnan.The agreement formalizes a partnership centered on building a sustainable culture of human rights through instruction, research, and community engagement, a press relea...